The Christianni's and the circus fire.

Some of the couples in the book by Connie Clausen, "I Love You Honey, but the Season's Over," were couples put together by Professor Love. Connie Clausen is the Connie after whom we named our daughter, Connie Lee. Connie Clausen was one of the sweetest and most intelligent girls in the show. Connie knew how to make you feel great just by talking to you. She was honest and not afraid to say what she was thinking. Connie and I talked quite often, and her love life was in turmoil. She was going with one of the Christianni boys. The Christianni's were a large Italian family doing several acts: bareback riding, acrobats, teeter-board and most of the production numbers. Connie's boyfriend, of course, lived with the family in the Christianni car, where mama Christianni did all the cooking and rode shot-gun over her brood. Mama Christianni knew about and had to approve of whatever her kids were doing. That kind of put a damper on what Connie and her boyfriend could and could not do. What kept Connie in a state of frustration, was the boyfriend was pressing for sex and Connie knew the moment she gave in, Mama Christianni would know about it through her other children. Connie preserved her virginity for what seemed to her to be a lifetime, but on the other hand, she was relieved as her boyfriend was a wild man and that somewhat frightened her when it came to the act of losing her virginity. Knowing her fears and because her boyfriend and I were good friends, I got him alone and without his knowing that Connie and I had talked, I let him in on a few facts of life and how to treat an American girl. A few days later, I talked with Connie and she was relaxed, smiling and happy. I never asked if she was still a virgin, but she and her boyfriend were together the rest of the time, until the end of the season. Thus, the title of her book, "I Love You Honey, but the Season's Over."

Speaking of love. During the show number of "The Wedding of Toto and Gargantua," in which I had been selected to be the bride Toto. Gargantua, the groom, was one of the Bulgarian bar performers. We were dressed in gorilla costumes, of course. The routine of the wedding was the gorilla bride and groom were brought into the center ring and married there by a preacher. Then a horse-drawn 'wedding carriage' was driven into the center ring and the happy couple seated themselves in the carriage for the trip around the hippodrome track for everyone to see the newly-married gorilla couple. That gorilla wedding number was advertised prior to the circus arrival in each town, which may have led some people to believe that real gorillas were being married. Of course, with our costumes on, we did look like the real thing. Those costumes weighed 40-50 pounds each. As we were being displayed around the hippodrome track, we could hear the comments of the under -canvas audience, such as "They're not real!" or "They're fake!" These under-canvas audiences were closer than other audiences, such as in New York or Boston, where we would not have heard their remarks. After hearing the people's remarks a few times, I decided to find out if the audience really thought we were fake. As the carriage came close to the bleachers and I could hear the doubts being voiced about the gorillas, I made a fast jump, as if I was coming out of the carriage into the audience. There were screams, screeches, and cries of fear, as the audience near the carriage vanished. As some of the crowd looked back to see if the gorillas were after them, I would throw them my wedding bouquet and act shy. That worked so well, and was so much fun, that I was told to keep it in the number. The audience enjoyed the scare and looking foolish afterwards. The music for the wedding was Harry James, "You Made me Love You." To this day, when we hear the song, my wife looks at me with those bedroom eyes and winks.

As the season rolled on, everyone was gaining more confidence with their acts and each other. Betty and I were startled late one afternoon to hear "Modoc," one of the lead elephants, crying and moaning in the center ring of the Big Top. We went in to see what was going on. Walter McClain, the boss elephant trainer, was standing next to Modoc, making her do headstands over and over. Poor Modoc was crying because it hurt and she knew she was being punished for not doing her number correctly during the show. Now there were four of us with tears in our eyes, Modoc, Walter, Betty and myself.

Walter McClain was not a mean elephant boss or trainer. The men and elephants all loved him and he loved them. A surprise electical/wind storm hit late one night. The elephants were in the tent with a chain around one leg, with the chain attached to a wooden stake driven into the ground. As the storm increased, the elephants, about 15 of them, became uneasy and began to trumpet and sway. The more the storm increased, the more the elephants worked themselves into a frightening state of mind in which all they knew to do, was pull their stakes out of the ground and run. The bull hands in the tent could not stop them. An elephant stampede started, and the elephants were running and trumpeting. To see a scared and stampeding herd of elephants heading off the circus lot and towards a small town is enough to give a strong man weak knees and a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

As the elephants all joined in the stampede, Walter McClain came running and as loud as he could, he hollered, "Ruth Stop!!" As Ruth was the lead elephant, she put on the brakes and the herd behind her stopped. Walter went up and talked to Ruth and she turned around and led the herd back to the elephant tent. The punishment Ruth recieved was a love pat from Walter. The elephants were following their natural instinct: when in danger, run, but the elephants knew that Walter would take care of them and protect them. Their respect and love for Walter saved many lives and a small town from destruction that day.

One last story about elephants. It happened during a fire in Cleveland, Ohio. The menagerie caught fire between shows. The circus lost many horses, camels, cats and other animals, including elephants. Their hides were burned and falling off in chunks. They would just stand there and cry, they were in so much pain. Some animals died in the fire and others had to be shot to set them free of pain, since there was no chance of their surviving. Circus and city crews worked late into the night with large cranes and trucks. Bulldozers had to be transported out into the country where large holes could be dug to bury the many burned and dead animals. That was one of the saddest days for everyone in the circus family.

Betty lost her elephant, "Cass." in the fire, which hit her hard. Betty had become like a mother to Cass and her best interest was foremost in Betty's mind. Elephants have a way of returning your love, so losing Cass, was like losing a member of her family and she was heartbroken. She had worked with Cass starting back with rehearsals in Sarasota. Betty would bring a loaf of bread each day so that Cass would permit the hair to be burned off her hide in the areas where Betty sat during "The Elephant Ballet." If this elephant hair was not removed, it's like sitting on needles.

An elephant hand or groom, whichever one wishes to call the elephant caretaker, was sitting in a bar one afternoon having a beer. He was dirty and covered with wet elephant dung. The bartender asked him what he did for a living? The man replied that he was with the circus. He did many jobs. He loaded and unloaded the circus from the trains, and he was just promoted to Elephant Hand First Class, and he took care of the elephants. He fed and watered them, and when they were constipated, he would get a ladder, climb up and lift the elephant's tail, reach in the hole under the tail and remove the blockage. When he did that, the dung and water would rush out and cover him and that's why he smelled like he did. The bartender said, " Good gosh man, why don't you quit and find other work?" the elephant hand replied, "What, and leave show business?" That's an old circus story, but how true it is.

One number that was fun to do was the "Popcorn Gag." When the juggler, Mosey Milliano Trutsey, was about to go on in the center ring, I would get a seat in front of the center ring about half-way up the aisle. During the juggling act, the juggler would throw a ten inch ball into the crowd and the ball would be thrown back to him and he would catch it on a knife he held in his mouth. On about the third throw into the audience, the ball would be thrown to me. I would be sitting on an end seat and would step out in the aisle to catch and throw the ball back. As I would throw the ball, a popcorn vendor with a tray of popcorn-filled bags held in one hand, high above his shoulder, would try to pass me in the aisle. The ball would hit the tray of popcorn and popcorn would fly everywhere. This always brought a laugh and of course, the popcorn vendor and I would have an arm-waving discussion about who was going to pay for the popcorn? The juggler paid the vendor and me $5.00 a week to do this gag. But what he didn't know, was that the people in the audience would feel sorry for the vendor and would give him money for the popcorn that was spilled. Between the vendor and me we made more than the $5.00 per show, by the audience's paying for the popcorn. I can see Mosey Milliano Trutsey's face now, when he discovered how much money we made, and he didn't get a penny of it. He was so tight he would ask if we could use the same popcorn twice.

to be continued....On to Nashville and more stories under the Big Top.